Samantha Michelle Bristol
Andrews – A local woman has been charged with misdemeanor death by vehicle stemming from the death of a bicyclist on Airport Road between Western Carolina Regional Airport and the town on Aug. 12, 2025.
Samantha Michelle Bristol, 37, of Walnut Cove Road in Andrews, was arrested April 24 and released after posting $5,000 bond.
According to court documents, Bristol “unlawfully and willfully did and unintentionally cause the death of H. Frank Mason while engaged in a violation of Section 20-141.4(a2), applying to the operation and use of a vehicle and to the regulation of traffic, in that the defendant unlawfully and willfully did drive a vehicle on Airport Road, State Road 1428. a highway, by failing to reduce speed to avoid colliding with a bicycle being operated by the deceased victim. This violation was the proximate cause of death.”
Retired dentist and local resident Frank Mason, 82, who was struck by a vehicle while riding his bike on Airport Road on Aug. 12, succumbed from his injuries on Aug. 18.
“His tragic death is a reminder that all drivers need to keep our eyes on the road and both hands on the wheel,” according to a post on the Hiwassee Dam Fire Department Facebook page. “Frank was very supportive of our volunteer fire departments and his community. He and his wife even assembled bikes for Toys for Tots.”
Mason, an avid bicyclist, was riding his bike along Airport Road just west of Webb Creek Road on the morning of Aug. 12 when he was struck by a vehicle driven by Bristol. The driver pulled over immediately after the incident and called 911.
Mason, wearing bright yellow and red clothing and a bicycle helmet, was riding eastbound on Airport Road and crested a small hill, where vegetation cut off access to a narrow shoulder, forcing him farther onto the road than he otherwise would have been.
Bristol failed to see Mason and her vehicle, a 2016 Toyota, sideswiped him on his bicycle, knocking him from his bicycle onto the roadway. He was unconscious by the time his wife, Edith, reached him at the hospital and never regained consciousness before dying six days later.
Mrs. Mason said her husband was in exceptional shape for an 82-year-old man – he rode his bicycle 80 miles when he turned age 80 – and his conditioning probably kept him alive longer than couple be expected for someone that age and with injuries to his brain, lower back and arm.
“He had a lot of good years left, but died because of some stupidity,” she told the Cherokee Scout.
Mason was a member of the Southern Appalachian Bicycle Association, Rod Fortney, president of the association, said in a letter to the Scout.
“His many friends are understandably shocked and saddened by the loss of their friend and are left wondering WHY this happened,” he wrote.
Fortney said he was advised that the driver who hit Mason “looked down for just a minute, and there he was.”